Welcome to the Run Oregon Race Profile of the week; profiling avid or passionate runners in the Oregon and SW Washington area. This week's profile features Jason Zacher. When he is not enjoying musicals (especially the classics) or nursing his addition of cupcakes and bacon, you can find him running- and fast! I met this amazing and crazy man, and could not help but respect his determination!

Jason always loved running back in High School but did not have the desire then towards the competitive edge to make him stand out. Then one day, over 20 years later, he decided to start training again in Feb, 2011 for a race. He proceeded to train for three months on a treadmill before entering AND winning The Soroptomist 10 for 10k in McMinnville, Oregon. Almost effortlessly, he had won the first race he entered in 22 years. Granted, it was a smaller race, but it immediately fueled his passion for competing. This smaller race drove Jason to train even harder to see if he could compete and win in larger races. He has since set goals for himself that many would find crazy.

Before Jason had even run his first Marathon, he had signed up to raise money for cancer. Creating the www.52milesforcancer.com website with a goal to run "2 marathons, 52.4 miles, and 210 laps in under 10 hours for 1 great cause." Jason is hoping to raise $10,000 for the American Cancer Society in three months time. He is currently up to $5,000 and may have more than that by the time you read this. So why Relay for Life? “My mom died from cancer 2 years ago so this is way more important to me to give back than to train for myself. For the business’ that support Jason, he has created severeal Nike purple tops with their business logo and the Relay for Life logo on them. “I will wear 6 different jerseys, one for every 42 laps or 10.5 miles. I had so many want to help I even sold two hat sponsors for the event. I have raised about $3000 just off the jersey sponsors and have some amazing givers like the Oregon Beef Council, Starbucks, Papa Murphy’s, Windermere Real Estate. ect ect. I also have already had over 10 restaurants donate gift certificates for us to have a drawing to raise even more money.”

Living in Lincoln City, he has prime real estate for running every day. “I honestly run 6 days a week rain or shine. (Living at the beach mostly rain).” Jason loves to support local races and and for his first Marathon chose the Newport Marathon this past June 2, 2012. Did I mention he sets big goals? He set a goal to run a sub 3:00:00 marathon time when he had never even run a marathon before. Spells disaster right? Well although he did not make his goal, he did run a 3:11 and not only qualified for Boston, also won a cash prize for being the fastest runner from Lincoln County.

This race is one of his two favorite races so far. “The Lincoln City Half Marathon is special for a different reason. I did this for a great local charity and started the race in last place and had to wait to start for 60 seconds after the LAST person left the starting line. I then had people pledge for every person I passed during the race. I raised almost $3500 and still finished 7th place. What made it more special was that it was the first race I had ever done here in the town I live in so all my friends and family were there. It was amazing.” He suffered a bit though after the Marathon. The day after the race Jason said “I am so sore from the marathon today. I can barely get off my bed. I wish I had one of those LIFE ALERT bracelets or necklaces where you push the button and paramedics come. Except on mine when you push the button it would be pizza, bacon, and cookies that showed up instead.”

People think he runs so he can eat. He loves food! People think with all his running and skinniness, that he must east healthy. Farthest from the truth! His favorite foods besides pizza and cookies are cupcakes and bacon. In fact I think he puts bacon on his cupcakes or cupcakes on his bacon (he is not picky). He will never turn down any tasty food put in front of him.

Nope, he runs because he loves it. It helps ground him after working 50 hour weeks with the public. He is busy working on his 52.4 miles for cancer fundraising and running, as well as setting other goals. He wants to run a sub 80 minute half marathon and run a sub 37 minute 10k. He loves to run so much, he ran on June 6th, days after his marathon because he felt the need to honor National Running Day. He felt like Gumby, but he did it anyway.

This brings us back to his love of racing. “To me the greatest feeling in the world is that electricity in the air at a BIG race about 1 minute before the gun goes off. I had a hard time not getting emotional when I ran my first half marathon in September last year and my first Marathon earlier this month.” He only does a race once every two months because of his training. He sacrifices a week of training to do a race, so he wants to make sure it is a race he will enjoy. His favorites so far are the Holiday Half Marathon in 2011 and the Newport mentioned earlier. He has run 12 races since he started running 16 months ago.

View full sizeJason smiles for the camera afetr the Oregon Wine Country Half

Besides being completely inspirational to others like me, he says his Dad inspires him and other runners. “I am so thankful my Dad taught me not to be afraid to work hard and to try to do things the right way.” And when he spoke of other runners he said “it makes me proud to see every runner at every race I go to. It does not matter if you run 5 minutes a mile or 10(or more), just great to see people out there with the guts to do it.” If you have time, go visit his website and sign his guestbook and say Hi! What a tremendous thing he has done taking his love for running and doing so much good with it! www.52milesforcancer.com . Now he just has to figure out how to run the 52 miles part.

I will be out of the Office for two weeks at a conference, and Kelly will be writing a couple profiles for your enjoyment. When I return, I look forward to seeing your nominations! Just need to email us with the title 'Nom for Run OR Profile Post' and you must be willing to let me contact you to discuss your story. Click the link below if you have someone in mind - including yourself!